Tales of Trinidad: Trinidad Thanksgiving!

The only things left to complete Christian's visa application were his international yellow fever immunization and his police report. Dave had gone over everything with a fine tooth comb to ensure all the details. Tuesday morning Dave picked up Christian and from a tender mercy from God, the police report was there but the yellow fever wasn't available until Wednesday. That was a slight snafu, but we were not rattled too much. We were leaving to go to Trinidad Wednesday morning so Christian would get that done and then fly over to Trinidad and have his interview with the embassy on Friday. We had planned to stay until Friday to go with him but there were no return flights until Sat. and we needed to get back to pack for Santo Domingo and fly out again on Sat. We were disappointed by that but we "unrattled" ourselves and asked the Elders to take care of it for us. They were happy to do that.

We flew in Wednesday and had enough time to go with the senior sisters to the Scarlet Ibis tour again. It gives you such a reverent feeling to witness nature (God) revealing so much order.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Sister Raye and Sister Locke are two senior sister missionaries who had just arrived in Trinidad. They are seasoned missionaries as this is the third mission for each of them. They were kind enough to take care of all the purchasing and preparing of the meal so when we got there the tables were set beautifully and everything was ready. We just got to help with dishing up and setting things out. We enjoyed the meal and then I was in charge of games. I taught them how to play "4 men on a couch" and they really had a good time with that. I was in heaven because this is a game that we play with our children when we get together. Sister Raye had gotten three coconuts and we had them have a competition of who could crack it open the first. I think they enjoyed that too! It really is a blessing and pleasure to spend time with these incredible young men who have and do sacrifice much to be here yet are so positive, grateful and pleasant. After some yummy desserts, some just relaxed and some played "Hearts" with Rook cards. Again, I was in heaven because this is a game that I grew up playing with my parents and siblings and it gave me lots of happy memories.

We said our goodbyes and flew back to Tobago to get ready to leave on Saturday. We were anxiously waiting to hear what happened at the African Embassy on Friday. We got word that Christian was there and with the Elders....then we got word that he was denied his visa because there were 4 things missing! arrrggghhh! The flight itinerary was in Spanish, they speak English but since it was coming from the Area in the Dominican Republic it was in Spanish. There needed to be two utilities bills one from each of the places he would be staying in South Africa and his mission call could not be a copy but needed to be an original document signed by the Prophet. Now he would definitely not make the Dec. 5th departure date to leave for African but will be visa waiting most likely in Trinidad. Rather disappointing but everything happens for a reason and the Lord is in charge so all is well and will be alright. When we started the process and talked with the area representative from the DR, she told us this was her first time doing this and that we would learn together.... After the embassy visit, Christian went out teaching with the Elders and they reported he did a great job!

I usually post this on Sundays but we will be traveling that day. We have an eleven hour layover in Panama! We have plans to go to the canal and the temple during that time. Hopefully, that will work out. We are extremely excited to go to the temple again and feel so grateful to be able to witness this couple receiving their endowments and being sealed as a couple and a family. This truly will be the most blessed thing we will have been able to participate in on our mission and worth all of the hardships and sacrifices we have experienced.

I was chatting with one of our children recently and we were reviewing and analyzing my mission experience. We concluded that I was a people pleaser and since we had experienced quite a bit of rejection and negative feed back I needed to be able to get my self esteem from myself instead of receiving it from others, which is the way it should be always...we can't even expect our spouses to fill our cups either and I have found that holds true especially on this mission because Dave was working on his weaknesses and I was working on mine and sometimes there was a great distance between us. Dave and I love each other very much and we are completely committed to our marriage but this has been a very interesting and some what challenging time for us. Nevertheless, we have done it and I have learned to get my self esteem from my Heavenly Father. I know He loves me always and it really is not determined by my performance. I have developed such a tender relationship with Him which I will forever owe to this experience. Sometimes there simply was no one else to talk with and feel like I was loved and understood. I am going to wax philosophical now. My relationship with the Holy Ghost has always been that He is the friend that gives me messages, directions, warnings and testifies. My relationship with my Savior is that He is the friend that heals, empathizes, encourages, gives strength and is my guide to know how to BE. My relationship with my Heavenly Father is now one of closeness, feeling understood, fully accepting, really, even non-judgmental, completely merciful and kind. I am overflowing with gratitude for the penetrating love I feel from all of them! What ever we have sacrificed doesn't even come close to what we have gained.

Sister Raye, Sister Locke, and us at the Scarlet Ibis Tour

Scarlet Ibis flying in to roost for the night

White Ibis flying in. The red all come together and the whites all come together...

The whites roost there but go deeper in the trees and disappear

Like this...

One of the flowers along the banks of the swamp

Thanksgiving morning. Ready to eat and waiting for the Elders. Sisters Locke, Raye and Atkins. Sister Atkins is a Trinidadian missionary serving here. She is delightful!